Hancock hits theaters this weekend and even though it’s getting the kind of bad reviews critics usually reserve for M. Night Shyamalan movies, unlike The Happening it’s sure to be a huge box office success. It’s Will Smith, July 4th weekend, and superheroes. Everyone who sees it may hate themselves in the morning, but everyone will see it.
So maybe it’s no surprise to learn that there are already plans for a sequel. One of our most reliable, secret sources dropped me an email this morning to clue us in on Sony’s plans for a followup. Whether those plans get put into motion depends of course, on how much Hancock actually makes, but behind the scenes things are already in motion for Hancock 2. There’s one big thing in the way though, and it’s not how much the current movie sucks. It’s that Will Smith knows it sucks, and may not want in on the second one.
Our source says that Will Smith does not like the finished, first film and the only way he’ll agree to do a second one is if they throw out everything from the first, give it a complete makeover, and hand over more control to him. Normally I get a little jumpy whenever Will Smith starts interfering in the filmmaking, we don’t need another I, Robot, but in this case… it can’t possibly be any worse. It’s nice to know that if they do foist a sequel on us, there’s a chance that they’ll fix at least some of the really weird problems with the first one.
For now, it's all rumor. Our source is a good one, but these things have a way of changing fast. Sony's plans are in motion, and we'll see where Hancock's box office this weekend takes them.
